Tony Hernández Pumarejo

Language: English

Tony Hernandez Pumarejo is an autistic self-advocate, motivational and professional speaker, author, writer, life coach, consultant, tv personality and international ambassador for Autism. Tony currently works for the non-profit Autism Speaks as a member of their Autism Response Team,  where he helps to support people with ASD and their families.

Born and raised in Bayamon, Puerto Rico and currently residing in Orlando, Florida, Tony was diagnosed with autism at age 3. As part of being on the autism spectrum, Tony faced different challenges, such as: being nonverbal until age 4, being in special education and delayed at school for a year, social communication, severe anxiety, repetitive behavior, depression, among others.  Also, I struggled with bullying in school and rejection, struggle with changes in my life and struggles in employment. 

However, I have been able to overcome these challenges through not only formal therapies like speech, behavior and occupational, but more, my true therapy was the school of hard knocks: overcoming negative situations in life and learning from them. I have been able so far to achieve important goals in my life, such as: graduating from Seminole State College with a bachelor’s degree in business and information Management (with 3.7 Magna Cum Laude honors) and releasing my memoir “An Autism Unscripted Life” in 2018, , which was translated into Spanish in 2019 as “Una Vida Autista Sin Libreto.” and becoming a motivational and professional speaker. 

Tony has appeared regularly on Univision, Telemundo and Mega TV, including having his own segment called “Tu Propósito,” (which in English translates to “Your Purpose”) with Univision Orlando between 2019 and 2022.  Also, Tony has his own podcast called My Time with Tony Hernandez Pumarejo. 

In regards of hobbies, Tony likes to travel, volunteer in the community, read books, exercise, get into nostalgia of playing classic video games and watch tv/movies from childhood. My main goal is to achieve financial freedom, to be in the best position to help my family, friends and community. I have a goal of traveling the entire World and also did skydiving in 2020. 

Other proyects y affiliations 

Autistic Expert Board for HAAPE.
Board for Autism Paradise y Centro de Capacitación de Puerto Rico.